This Article is From Jan 17, 2022

An Indian Pharma Is Working On Omicron-Specific Vaccine: Report

Pfizer Inc said last week a redesigned COVID-19 vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron coronavirus variant could be ready to launch by March.

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India News

Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is working on an Omicron-specific Covid vaccine candidate (Representational)

New Delhi:

India's Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is working on an Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine candidate that could be ready in a month or two, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The source, who did not want to be named as the information was private, said the product might need a small trial in India before it could be rolled out as a booster or standalone vaccine.

A representative for Gennova, a unit of drugmaker Emcure Pharmaceuticals that does business in some 70 countries, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pfizer Inc said last week a redesigned COVID-19 vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron coronavirus variant could be ready to launch by March.

The source said Gennova on Friday separately submitted to India's drug regulator phase 2 trial data for its original mRNA vaccine candidate. The government said last year that product was found to be "safe, tolerable, and immunogenic" in the participants of an initial study.

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If given emergency-use approval, this would be the country's first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine like the ones developed by Pfizer and Moderna.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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